John Wanamaker, one of the pioneers of modern merchandising, famously said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.” Almost a century after his death, it’s still a common complaint, but, it doesn’t have to be true anymore — especially when it comes to social media. While still not foolproof, the amazing tools and technology we have today make measuring return on investment easier than Wanamaker could ever have imagined.
So Where Do You Start?
Setting appropriate goals that are quantifiable and linked to specific campaigns is the first step. Tracking them correctly using tools such as Google Analytics is the second. This approach can quickly help you understand what’s working and what’s not. That means you’ll waste less money and get better results.
What Makes a Goal “Good?”
A good social media goal is one that supports your organization’s overall business and marketing strategy.
Is the “mother ship” trying to build brand awareness and credibility? Good social media goals may be increasing fan and follower counts or promoting downloads of white papers and participation in webinars.
Looking to improve customer or community engagement? See if you can generate more likes, comments, shares and retweets.
Trying to drive utilization of a product or service? Create social media campaigns that encourage prospects to act on specific calls to action in ways that can be tied back to your efforts.
Whatever your goals, make sure they’re clearly defined, measureable, time-specific and that whomever you answer to agrees with them in advance.
Now Just Measure What’s Working and What’s Not
As mentioned, Google Analytics is a great way to track the effectiveness of your social media efforts. It’s a sophisticated, powerful tool that lets you create a customized dashboard for monitoring specific metrics such as newsletter signups, downloads, click-through rates, page views and much more. It even helps you keep an eye on detailed user behavior; the amount of time a person watched your video on a landing page after they clicked on a link from Facebook, for example.
Having access to this amount of information helps you assign a value to each weapon in your social media arsenal — and, therefore, decide how your money is best spent going forward. If it’s working, do it more. If it isn’t, kill it.
BAM! Return on investment — measured. Effectiveness — optimized. John Wanamaker would approve. Your boss will too.
To learn more about getting the most from social media marketing, contact Wax Custom Communications at 305-350-5700 or visit waxcom.com.
